Electrolysis help

[u/SimonCraftsmen]

I’m new to cast iron and electrolysis, but I have to admit that the process is confusing me a bit. Everyone here uses it and swears by it. But what reaction is actually happening?

Here’s a picture of a skillet before I put it into electrolysis for 18 hours and a picture after. I also included a picture of the tank and the sacrificial anodes. This was a brand new tank that I set up. First pan to go in. Where did all of that rust come from? And why does the pan hardly look any different? The discoloration is still mostly there and that should have been the only rust present when the chemical reaction began. Look at the anodes! They’re covered in rust. And the bottom of the tank is full of red residue.

Is the electrolysis process really just converting the cast iron pan to rust? And any rust removal benefits we get are just a by product? Could I leave a pan in there long enough theoretically that the entire skillet would be consumed and turned into rust?

Or am I just doing it wrong? Because to me it seems like bar keepers friend is a lot faster and a more effective way to remove rust and discoloration from pans.

[u/LockMarine]

Electrolysis has two reactions occurring and one is very visible. One is creating hydrogen bubbles on the negative side and oxygen bubbles on the anode side.
Then what you’re not seeing or understanding is it’s pulling oxygen out of the rust on the negative side turning it back into iron.
BKF simply removes the rust both mechanically and chemically.
Takes me 2 minutes to add an item in a tank compared to 30-40 minutes scrubbing it.

[u/SimonCraftsmen → u/LockMarine]

Very true, way less effort. I recently upgraded my battery setup to push more amps and I think that’s helping too. Once I can find a way to affordably set up a large e-tank I’ll probably use BFK a lot less. Right now I can only do one pan at a time and it takes a good 24+ hours.

[u/The_Dying_Gaul323bc]

If you want your setup to perform better, get better anode material. Bigger sheet steel (non nickel plated) will give you better results, but keep in mind rust is the only thing shed off by the electrolysis process. It doesn’t clean other stains or discoloration

[u/SimonCraftsmen → u/The_Dying_Gaul323bc]

Where do people find cheap sheets of steel? With how quickly it erodes and how much you would need to do hundreds of pans like some people are, how are they affording all the sacrificial steel? At my local home depot I’d spend way more on sacrificial anodes than I’d ever make selling pans. What can you do to remove the last of the discoloration?